The invention relates to an apparatus for driving a plurality of units which are angularly offset with respect to each other on a machine, which units can be driven by a common shaft via cam, crank or eccentric drive means. The invention relates particularly, though not exclusively to an apparatus for driving a plurality of processing units of a paper processing machine. On such machines, processing units are angularly offset with respect to each other, for example around a disc or drum in which the objects to be processed are clamped. The individual processing units are driven via a common shaft, for example the synchronous shaft of a larger processing unit which runs in a lower machine part. Each individual processing unit is provided with a cam, a crank or an eccentric which drives the unit via an actuating rod or the like. German Pat. No. 1,008,708 describes an apparatus of this type. This drive apparatus is structurally very complicated and, because there are a plurality of driving parts arranged on top of each other or next to each other, the drive apparatus is bulky and inaccessible. The relatively large moving masses give rise to considerable forces which load the drive considerably, particularly at high operating speeds.
An object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for driving a plurality of angularly offset units, which is comparatively simple in construction but allows the units to be driven precisely and synchronously.